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As the nineteenth century drew to a close, the newspaper business was dominated by yellow journalism.
However, many editors were becoming convinced that things did not have to be this way. Among them
was Adolph S. Ochs. In 1896 Ochs bought The New York Times and inaugurated an objective-journalism
tradition that continues to the present. When Ochs purchased the Times, daily circulation was down to
9000 copies less than it had been when the Times was originally started in 1851. But by the time Ochs
died in 1935, daily circulation was 465,000. If you were to visit the limes Building in New York City
today, you would see Ochs's credo on display: "To Give the News Impartially, Without Fear or Favor." It
is this principle that still guides the paper. In his book The Kingdom and the Power, journalist Gay Talese
describes the atmosphere that prevailed: "The New York Times was a timeless blend of past and present,
a medieval kingdom within the nation with its own private laws and values and with leaders who felt
responsibility for the nation's welfare but were less likely to lie than the nation's statesmen and generals.
Ochs had purchased the Times with only $75,000. For that amount he received 1125 shares of stock. His
arrangement with the stockholders specified that if he ran the paper for three years without going into
debt, he would receive a total of 5001 shares or a majority. After three years, Ochs was the newspaper's
major stockholder. In order to obtain his goal, Ochs created a newspaper of record. Eliminating romantic
fiction and what he deemed to be examples of trivia, he demanded that financial news, real estate! court
proceedings and governmental activities are given their due. In effect, he turned the Times into a bible of
information for its readership. When news appeared in the Times, people assumed it to be true. For his
part, Ochs demanded total accuracy and completeness.
Many years ago, after a task force of Timesmen had acquitted themselves very well on a big story, the
editors sat around at a conference the following day extending congratulations to one another; but Adolph
Ochs, who had been silting silently among them, then said that he had read in another newspaper a fact
that seemed to be missing from The Times' coverage. One editor answered that this fact was minor, and
added that The Times had printed several important facts that had not appeared in the other newspaper.
To which Ochs replied, glaring, "I want it all."
It is this thinking, rigidly enforced, that has created an odd turn of mind and fear in some Timesmen, and
has created odd tasks for others. For several years there were clerks in The Times' newsroom assigned
each day to scan the paper and count each spoils score. each death notice, making sure that The Timeshad them all, or at least more than any other newspaper At night there were Times editors in the news-
room pacing the door waiting for a copyboy to arrive with the latest editions of other newspapers, fearful
that these papers might have a story or a few facts not printed in The Times
Though the traditions adhered to by Ochs arc still in force today, sometimes even Times reporters make
exceptions and sacrifice accuracy for timeliness.
Newspapers Consolidate
Although newspaper circulation increased! between 1910 and 1930, the number of newspapers declined.
In response to the fact mining whether or not the paper will be an economic success. Today daily
newspapers that have a combined circulation of approximately 62.5 million copies have been
experiencing changes. Several metropolitan dailies, including the New York Herald Tribune, the Chicago
Daily News, and the Washington Star, have folded. Major afternoon newspapers have recently found
themselves in financial trouble, while morning dailies have been gaining in numbers. Some people sug-
gest this is because today we have more time to read in the mornings but less time to read at night. Do
you agree? Additionally, Americans have been spending more of their time with Sunday papers. Sunday
editions rose from 586 in 1970 to 786 in 1982. William Marcil, the chairman and president of the
American Newspaper Publishers Association, claims: "Our business is strong and competitive and
thriving." One reason for this health has been the advent of national dailies.
National Dailies:
The year is 1975; satellites have entered the newspaper industry and by so doing have made the concept
of a national newspaper a reality. In 1975 The Wall Street Journal opened a plant in Florida that was docsity.com

equipped to publish the newspaper by printing full-page images that had been transmitted by satellite. By
1983 four regional (eastern, midwest, southwest, and western) editions of The Wall Street Journal were
being printed at seventeen plants nationwide. Today, the daily circulation of The Wall Street Journal is
1,952,283. Though the news content of each edition is identical, the advertising varies from region to
region. The Wall Street Journal was followed into space by other newspapers including the West Coast,
Chicago, and Florida editions of The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and the
international edition of the Herald Tribune.
Then, on September 15, 1982, USA Today, the country's first general-interest national newspaper, was
delivered via satellite. Unlike The Wall Street Journal and other national dailies, USA Today is designed
to carry only national advertising. Thus its various plants are able to print identical newspapers. In spite of
the technological prowess used to put it together, USA Today is not without its critics. Having been
termed "junk-food journalism," it is seen by some .as the McDonald's of the dailies. Developed by the
Gannett chairman Allen Neuharth, following a detailed market research effort to determine what people
wanted in a daily newspaper, the paper is a splashy product which specializes in short articles. Most of the
paper's stories do not jump from page to page as is common in most newspapers. Neuharth says: "We fi-
nally had to make a rule that there would only be four stones a day that could jump. Those are the front
page feature stories in each section. USA Today is envisioned as a "second buy" for the newspaper
reader; thus, it is not expected to interfere with the sales of local newspapers, including those owned by
the Gannett chain side Story," voiced the thoughts of many when speaking of USA Today.
The new publication is a highly professional product which has already taught a lot of old dogs some new
tricks in the newspaper world. But newspapers have responsibilities as well as rights, and particularly a
responsibility to print hard news along with the black ink. Newspapers should give people what is
important as well as what is interesting. They must be more than the mirror image of each shift in public
taste and opinion. That's where USA Today in particular, and Gannett in general, go wrong. But it's also
where much of the newspaper business seems to be heading. And that's bad news for all of us.
And critic Ben Bagdikian, in a recent issue of the Columbia Journalism Review echoed Mr. Carter's
lament: "Unfortunately, the country's first truly national daily newspaper of general circulation is a
mediocre piece of journalism. To what extent doyou support the views expressed by Mr. Carter and Mr.
Bagdikian? Why?
Whatever you think of USA Today, currently it is a profit-making operation. Although critics refer to it as
"McPaper," the journalistic equivalent of fast food, major newspapers across the United States havebegun imitating USA Today's artful use of color and snazzy graphics. USA Today's daily circulation is
1,179,052.
Suburban Dailies:
As people and merchants moved into the suburbs, so did newspapers. Although today many major paperssuch as The New York Times do include suburban sections, the suburban dailies have alsobeen quite
successful in targeting their editorial content to their particular readers and in attracting advertisers in
their own right. Circulation among suburban dailies in communities of 100,000 to 500,000 grew 20 per-
cent during the 1970s and has continued its surge in the 1980s. National advertising is solicited for the
sub urban press by two trade associations: the suburban news paper of Americaand US Urban Press.
Among the suburban dailies, Long Island's Newsday is one of the best known. Newsdayutilizes a tabloid
format and has grown with Long Island since the paper's inception in 1940, with present-day readership
estimated at the half-million mark. Today many suburban newspapers are owned by chains; Gannett,
which owns ninety papers, Hearst, Knight-Ridder, and W.O. Scripps dominate the suburban daily market.
Weeklies:
About 7600 weekly newspapers in this country serve small towns and suburbs. Designed to provide a
sense of identity for local communities, these papers compete for advertising dollars with the dailies.
Today weekly newspapers have a combined circulation of 47,593,000.
The Throwaway Shopper: The throwaway shopper is one variety of weekly publication. Advertising
occupies an average of 74 percent of the paper. Popular with advertisers because they enable them to
reach 100 percent of the households in a specified area, they are delivered free of charge to consumers. docsity.com

Both the shopper and the weekly local newspaper are usually nonunion opera-lions. These types of papers
may constitute the last opportunity for people to start small in the newspaper business. The more than
1500 shopper papers yield combined revenue of $500 million.
Supermarket Tabloids:
Did you realize that aliens may be visiting Earth? That John Wayne may have returned from the dead?
That you may diet while consuming pizza after pizza? If not, you probably have not been reading The Na-
tional Enquirer or its clone, The Star. Many people have, however. In 1982 the Newspaper Readership
Project reported that these two publications were reaching 20 million readers each week Generoso Pope
purchased the Florida-based National Enquirer in 1952, establishing an "I Cut Out Her Heart and
Stomped on It" cannibalism and gore approach to journalism. In 1968 the paper's format was altered in
order to make it suitable for supermarket checkout rack distribution. It was followed to those racks in
1974 by Rupert Murdoch's Star, The National Tattler, and Midnight, among others.
Media critic Hodding Carter has called the supermarket tabloid type of newspaper a "journalistic mutt.
Although the reporters who write for these papers utilize techniques similar to those of recognized
journalists and claim to publish the truth they do so in a rather sensational fashion.
Special-Interest and Alternative Newspapers:
Special-interest newspapers are newspapers directed at particular segments of the newspaper-reading
audience. Primary target groups for special-interest papers include college students and minorities.
College Papers:
Many colleges support student-run daily, weekly, or monthly newspapers. Circulation of these papers
ranges from a high of 40,000 for some down to a monthly readership of but a few hundred. Some
colleges offer competing newspapers one a laboratory publication of a journalism or communications
department, and the other a semiautonomous publication emanating from the student government.
Because surveys have shown that 96 percent of a college's population read al least part of the campus
paper, college papers attract advertisers.
The Alternative Press:
Alternative newspapers are said to have begun with the 1955 publication of The Village Voice. When
firstpublished, the Voice offered its readership slanted political and cultural news. According to Robert
Glessing, author of The Underground Press in America, the Voice was the first newspaper in the history
of modern American journalism to consistently report news with no restriction on language, a policy
widely adopted by underground editors to shock the authority structure." The Village Voice was followed
by a number of other underground or alternative papers (each the product of Americans who felt alienated
from the mainstream); prime among these was The Los Angeles Free Press. For example, during the
Vietnamese war era, hordes of young Americans who felt cut off from the establishment also felt
themselves alienated from establishment presses. The needs of these people were met by alternative
newspapers. The underground press attacked society and the war, frequently advertised sex, and included
pleas from parents seeking runaway children. In addition, the underground press also relished attacking
the mainstream press. Today, most offerings of the underground press have vanished. The Village Voice
does still exist, but under fee ownership of newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch.
The Minority Press:
The first newspapers for Hispanics, blacks, Native Americans, and Asian Americans were all started in
the nineteenth century. The first Hispanic newspaper, EL Misisipi, was founded in New Orleans in 1908;
the first black newspaper. Freedoms Journal, was founded in New York City in 1827; the Cherokee
Phoenix, the first Native American newspaper, was founded in Echota, Georgia, in 1828; and Kim-Shan
Jit San-Luk (The Golden Hills news), the first Asian American newspaper, was founded in San Francisco
in the early 1850s. Recently, Editor and Publisher Yearbook listed 215 foreign-language newspapers in
this country. Most prominent among these were the offerings* of the Spanish-language press.
The Organization of a Newspaper: Who Does What? docsity.com

In order to operate effectively, a newspaper, like any media organization, must be organized in a
systematic way. Although there is no one scheme used across the board and not all newspapers can afford
to staff each department separately, all newspapers fulfill news and opinion and production and business
functions. Heading the newspaper is the owner. He or she appoints a publisher, who oversees the news-
paper's operation; in small operations, however, the owner may also function as the publisher.
The Business Function:
The newspaper's business department performs advertising, circulation, promotion, and personnel
functions. As with any organization, this department is concerned withpayments that go out and revenues
thatcome in. Much of the newspaper's incoming revenue is supplied by the advertising group.
Since advertising is expected to bring inapproximately three-quarters of a newspaper's income, it is of
major concern to thepaper. Because newspapers rely so heavily on advertising, more and more of the pa-
per's space is devoted to it. The advertising in a typical newspaper consumes from 23 to70 percent of the
paper's available column space. In most papers, the average space consumed by advertising is 60 percent-
Newspapers print local (about 60 percent); national (about 10 percent), and classified (about 25 percent)
advertising. National advertising usually comes to the paper from anadvertising agency in camera-ready
form. Classified advertisements are used extensively by people looking for jobs, organizations looking for
people, and real estatebuyers and sellers. Newspapers also distribute preprints—those fliers which areprinted elsewhere and inserted intothe paper prior to sale.
After all the advertisements are set, the remaining space available in the paper is called the news hole.
Thus, it is the news, and not the advertising, that is made to fit the available space. Seldom are pages
added to a paper so that more news can be printed. Pages are added regularly, however, to accommodate
additional advertising.
On certain days of the week, newspapers increase in length. Since Wednesday and Sunday are heavy
advertising days, the papers published on these days will be longer. Keep in mind that as the amount of
advertising increases, the size of the news hole may increase as well. Approximately 25 percent of the
income a newspaper receives is developed through circulation or sales. Newspapers are sold in a number
of different ways. Newsstands or vendors, once popular in cities, have recently experienced a decline in
use. Some newspapers, especially weeklies, are now sold entirely by subscription. Boxes or containers on
street corners are another method of circulation. According to the Newspaper Advertising Bureau, 77
percent of all newspapers sold are home-delivered. This system depends for the most part on youngsters
aged 12 to 16 who deliver the product to homes and apartments. Proponents of this medium believe that
since each carrier operates as an independent distributor, this system helps them acquire basic business
practices.
Lately, a number of newspapers have experimented with hiring delivery personnel as staff members.
Other papers have assumed the carrier's billing responsibilities so that the carrier is not forced to make
extra house calls in order "to collect." In some locations like apartment houses or colleges, newspapers
are now placed in a locked container to which only the subscribers have a key. This enables such
subscribers to receive the daily paper and deposit the subscription charge in the box at the same time.
While electronic means of delivery may affect traditional circulation methods in the future, the hand-
delivered system seems to be well-entrenched.
Newspaper promotion people perform public relations functions for their organization. They aim to
communicate a positive image of the newspaper organization to the general public so that circulation will
be increased. To achieve this goal, the people in promotion sponsor athletic leagues, concerts, or other
community-oriented events designed to encourage readers and potential readers to view the paper as a
"human" enterprise. Of late, games have also been utilized as promotional devices. Wingo-Zingo-Zappo
lottery-type games are used to entice people to purchase a particular newspaper. On a more academic
note, "newspaper in education" programs are also used as a way to encourage and promote student read-
ership.
The Production Function:

The job of a newspaper's production department is to transfer words and photographs to the printed page.
This task is accomplished in three phases: the first phase occurs in the composing room, where the page is
laid out; the second phase occurs in the plate making room, where the plates that produce the printed page
are prepared; and the last phase occurs in the pressroom, where the paper is actually printed on high speed
presses. Computers, offset printers, and lasers have all combined to increase the speed and efficiency of
newspaper production. Recently, changes have occurred in large and small newspapers alike. In 1982, for
example, The Record, a medium-sized suburban daily, invested $62 million in new production equipment
Two high-speed offset presses have come all the way from Tokyo to take up residence in the plant's
brand-new four-story pressroom. This awesome installation, designed by Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho (TKS),
provides high-quality offset printing and more color printing capability than any other daily currently
being published in this country. Completely computer-controlled, the 41-foot-high presses have little re-
semblance to the Scott letterpresses already being dismantled in the original pressroom. The new presses
account for $23 million of the total project cost—the largest item on the books, consistent with the role
they play at the core of the operation.
The pioneering TKS presses are linked to an equally unusual inserting and storage system, displaying its
Swiss-made precision as it handles the flow of newspapers to The Record's enlarged and renovated mail
room. Designed by Ferag, this system is also a pilot installation for the United States. Completely
computerized, it not only hastens the collating of newspaper sections and advertising inserts, but also
increases geographic and demographic zoning capabilities for The Record and its advertisers.
The News/Opinion Function:
The news and editorial departments provide the product of the newspaper. You will notice in the
organizational chart that the news and editorial departments of the paper are distinct and separate, with
both reporting to the publisher. In this way, the news department can remain "objective" while the
editorial department presents opinions. The editorial function is designed to help readers make sense out
of the news and draw conclusions about topics of importance to contemporary society. In addition to the
printing of editorials, the editorial function includes the selection and printing of letters to the editor; and
on the op-ed or page opposite the editorial page, regular and guest columnists are given the opportunity to
voice their views on issues of controversy.
The news division is headed by a managing editor or editor-in-chief. He or she is responsible for
coordinating the operation of the newsroom. In addition, a number of editors work for this person and are
charged with more specific responsibilities, some of which are as follows:
The wire editor is responsible for regional, national, and international news from the wire services.
The city editor is responsible for local events.
The sports editor is responsible for sports news.
The lifestyle editor is responsible for entertainment, society, food, and other features.
Imagine that your local newsstand carried no magazines or worse, that there were no magazines to which
you could subscribe. How might such a situation affect your lifestyle? From the 1950s to the early 1970s
the possibility that magazines might vanish appeared to be a very real threat. A number of favorite weekly
magazines ceased to exist Life, Look, Colliers, and The Saturday Evening Post all closed their doors.
What medium filled the void left by these popular magazines? Network television. Advertisers and
readers alike turned in droves to the newer medium. All the indications were that magazines were on the
way out. William G. Dunn, publisher of U.S. News World Report, comments that even today, most media
directors at advertising agencies will spend money in broadcasting. After all, it is difficult to fill a blank
page. It is more fun to go on location and create a TV commercial. What he does not mention, however, is
that it is also more expensive.
Of course, the magazine industry has not died. Instead it seems to have heeded the Queen's advice to
Alice in Through the Looking Glass: "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in
the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" Magazines
have run hard, indeed. In August of 1980, the Magazine Publishers Association (MPA) reported that
magazine circulation had grown twice as fast as the nation's population. Later the MPA was able to state:
"Magazines have become such an integral part of our lives that, today, nine out of ten adults read at least docsity.com

one of the measured consumer magazines during the - average month. The average reader examines eight
magazines per month on 3.2 different days. The average page is viewed 1.7 times.
According to current estimates there are approximately 13,000 magazines published in the United States.
Thus, magazines still play a formidable role in the lives of Arnericans. While a number of factors,
including better demographics, may account for the resurgence of advertiser interest in the magazine
business, one key factor was reported in a study done for the National Association of Broadcasters: 49
percent of the respondents reported that they were now watching less television than they had in previous
years. The implication is that they have more time to spend consuming other media, including magazines.
What is a magazine? How does it differ from a newspaper? Usually, magazines are published periodically
(traditionally, less frequently than newspapers) in a bound format, have a durable paper cover, and
contain better-quality paper. Of course, while a trip to your local newsstand may produce exceptions, for
the most part these guidelines can be relied upon to help you to distinguish magazines from other media.
Why do people read magazines? We will attempt to answer this question by examining the roots of
magazines, the fragmenting of the audience for magazines, current industry patterns, as well as the
editorial process.
The Way Things Were:
Although similarities in printing made early magazines in England difficult to distinguish from
newspapers, the first magazine was probably The Review, published in 1704 and written for nine years by
Daniel Defoe of Robinson Crusoe fame. Consisting of four pages, the magazine appeared three times
each week at first and as a biweekly in later years. Included in it was a column entitled "Advice from the
Scandalous Club/' in which Defoe discussed literature, etiquette, and other topics of interest. Then in
1709, Richard Steele created the fictitious Isaac Bickerstaff and made him the publisher of The 'Taller. By
relying on humor. The Taller was able to handle serious topics and attack human foibles. A few years
later, in 1711, Joseph Addison, who had been working with Steele, joined forces with him and the two
began to publish The Spectator, an offering which contained humor, essays, and even short stories.
Magazine Books:
Numerous imitations of these publications sprang up in England, but in this country it was not until
January 1741 that the first magazines were available. In that month and year The American Magazine or a
Monthly View of the Political State of the British Colonies appeared and was followed in short order by
Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for the British Plantations in America.
The American Magazine ran but three issues and Franklin's folded after six. A great deal of the materials
contained in these magazines and the ones that came after them had been reprinted from other sources- In
addition, magazines of the times also had to contend with high postal rates and slow-, primitive printing
methods. So although a number of magazines started during the 1700s, most failed: historian John Tebbel
reports that by the year 1800 only twelve magazines were being published in the United States. While
there were still fewer than 100 magazines in 1825, 600 were in publication by 1850, and Tebbel estimates
that 5000 to 6000 others had started and ceased publication.5 Thus, the early to mid nineteenth century
saw the magazine industry in America really begin to come alive.
One editor who embodied the style and tone of this particular period was Joseph Dennie. Beginning his
career with the New Hampshire weekly The Farmers Museum in 1793, Dennie went on to publish The
Port Folio, a high-quality magazine that feat tired articles and "lay sermons" by such figures as John
Quincy Adams and Gouverneur Morris.
General-Interest Magazines:
One important development during this period was growth of monthly general-interest magazines. In
1821, Samuel Atkinson and Charles Alexander began publishing Saturday Evening Post; by 1826, they
also publishing a second popular gene interest magazine, The Casket: Flowers of Literature, Wit and
Sentiment. In 1839, Atkinso sold The Casket to George Graham, whoa purchased another magazine
from ad William Burton and in 1840 combined two into Graham's Magazine. Graham was one of the first
magazine publishers to pay reasonable fees to his contributors, thereby attracting the likes of such writers
as Poe, Bryant. Longfellow and Holmes to his fold.

Another important general-interest magazine of the times was Knickerbocker, started in 1833 and edited
after 1834 by Lewis Gaylord Clark. Clark, like Graham, was will-to pay well to use the original works of
major writers of the day. (Mark's major innovation was to include an "Editor's Table" in each issue; in it
he discussed fashion and New York City—related topics, much as the "Notes and Comments" section of
The New
Yorker does today. As the century progressed, other general-interest magazines, including McClure's
Magazine (1893) and Munsey's Magazine (1897), established large circulations by selling their issues at
10 to 15 cents each.
Women's Magazines:
The first successful women's magazine was started in 1828 by Sara Josepha Hale. Titled Ladies'
Magazine, Hale's publication campaigned for both women's rights and the need for women to become
schoolteachers. After nine years Hale and her chief competitor merged their magazines, creating Godey’s
Lady’s Book. Louis Godey's periodical as edited by Hale attained an impressive circulation of 40,000
monthly copies in 1850. Graham and other publishers also experimented with their formats in an effort to
appeal to the growing women's audience. Today, among the magazines we see serving this market are the
Ladies' Home Journal, Family Circle, Woman's Day, and Wen-king Woman.
Special-Interest Magazines:
During the first half of the nineteenth century, publications which were directed at special-interest
audiences also became available. For example, magazines for children were a popular offering. Nathaniel
Willis started Youth's Companion in 1827, and Parley's Magazine was begun by Samuel Goodrich in
1833.
Goodrich wrote under the name of Pet Parley and delighted children for man years. Youth's Companion
continued publication until the stock market crash in 1929.
Other special-interest magazines were targeted to appeal to groups of readers oft day. For example The
National Police Gautti which you can still find on your newsstand offered its readers a storehouse of
violence filled criminal acts. And Turf Register, begun in Baltimore in 1829, foreshadowed sports
magazines of today.
In 1838, Nathan Allen, a medical student, began the Phrenology Review.
The Professional Magazinist Emerges:
Nathaniel Willis, a prolific writer of the day, is recognized as America's first professional magazine
writer, or magazinist, Willis wrote for many publications, including his own children's magazine,
Graham's Magazine, and Godey's Lady's Book. Willis, a writer of both fiction and nonfiction.
Magazines Targeted the General Audience:
Once the Civil War was over, general-interest magazines were on the rise, increasing their numbers from
260 in the year 1860 to 1800 in the year 1900. A number of events contributed to the dramatic growth of
these large-circulation magazines. First, improvements in printing technology and production techniques
made it possible to reduce the cost of magazines, thereby placing them well within the buying range of
most people. Second, the Postal Act of 1879 gave special mailing rates to magazines and enabled editors
and publishers to aim for national that busy people will pay for condensed versions of articles from other
sources; Reader's Digest has survived to this day. Currently, however, it does include some original mate-
rial in addition to its staple of reprints.
Newsmagazines:
The year 1923 witnessed the birth of another magazine for the busy reader. By compartmentalizing
information in various departments for example, national affairs, foreign news, books Time turned itself
into the first successful newsmagazine. Created by Henry Luce, Time set out to keep people well-
informed by providing them with a perspective on and understanding of the world's events. By 1930 the
magazine was showing a profit, and in 1933 two competitors, Newsweek and U.S. News cif World
Report, were also on the newsstands. Time has been quite successful with the reading public.

The newsmagazines provide other media with leads; stories covered in them are often picked up for
coverage by radio and television news teams and other magazines.
The situation newsmagazines like Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News World Report are facing today is a
tough one. Each one has suffered through the tightening economic conditions of the mid-eighties and
finds itself now facing renewed competition for readers' loyalty and advertising revenues. Currently Time
is first in total revenues and circulation (4.7 million).
Picture Magazines:
By 1936, Henry Luce had begun yet another type of magazine the photo magazine. Life and its
competitor Look (which appeared two months later) gave Americans pictures of major events.
Functioning as a window on the world for millions of Americans in the days before television, the
magazines gained in popularity. This new development in photojournalism was successful in attracting
millions of readers each week what ensued when Life hit newsstands andmailboxes that first week was
near-riot. Newsdealers across the nation telephoned and telegraphed for more copies. Presses creaked,
groaned and broke down trying to keep upwith the demand. Reserve paper stocksdwindled and ran out,
occasioning frantic telephone calls for "more paper, find more paper.
As a double check, the machinery measures the thickness of each magazine in an effort to ensure that the
correct issue has been produced. The subscriber's name and address are placed on a card and inserted
inside the magazine in addition to being printed directly on the front cover for mailing. All of this for a
subscription price of $8 per year. Although some of the more than 1 million subscribers who fill out
subscription questionnaires may check many more items than they are really interested in, Dale Smith,
president of Farm Journal, notes: "A farmer doesn't pick up a farm magazine to be entertained."
Although not as specialized as Farm Journal, other large-circulation magazines, especially
newsmagazines like Time and Newsweek, also publish regional and demographic editions in an effort to
speak to the interests of particular readers and attract advertisers
Types of Magazines Today:
J. W. Click and Russell Baird provide somewhat more useful classification consisting of six categories.
• Consumer magazines, which are sold at newsstands and are available to everyone. Included

among these are such publications as Reader's Digest, Time, Newsweek, MS Magazine, Working
Woman, and Science Digest.

• Association-related offerings. Among the more than 600 association magazines published are
The American Legion, The Rotation, National Geographic, Journalism Quarterly, and the
Journal of the American Medical Association.

• Public relations magazines, which provide a means for business and not-for-profit organizations
to relate to one or more of their publics for example, their employees, customers, stockholders,
or dealers. Among the more than 10,000 such magazines are Exxon's The Lamp and Friends
published by General Motors.

• One-shot magazines, which capitalize on a hot topic or idea. Rock-group magazines, Star Trek,
and volumes on Elvis Presley fit into this category.

Magazine Ownership:
The magazine industry today is dominated by giants like Reader's Digest and TV Guide. Who actually
owns the magazines you read? To what extent are you surprised by the fact that United, Pan Am Clipper,
Continental, Eastern Review, Western's World, as well as other in-flight magazines are all published by
the East/West Network? According to East/West Network, they are "publishers of magazines that
dominate the sky." Over 1,700,000 copies are run each month for American air carriers, with an
additional 1,486,000 copies run for eleven major international carriers. East/West prides itself on being docsity.com

able to tell advertisers that "each East/ West magazine has its own editorial format directed to a specific
audience. Each focuses on a basic theme of executive service and is edited to provide features that our
readers can use and take action upon in their business and personal lives. Our editors in New York and
Los Angeles create over 500 unduplicated pages each month. The easy chair environment of a jet-liner is
naturally most conducive to reading." This network of giveaway magazines is marketed to advertisers as a
means of reaching top-level decision makers well-paid corporate executives. Advertisers are free to sell
their products or services in one or all in-flight magazines; either way East/West wins, since it owns them
all.
Most of our consumer magazines are owned by eleven leading publishers. For example, Time Inc. owns
seven magazines, including Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, Money, People, and Discover. CBS owns Field
& Stream, Woman's Day, Cycle World, and Road &f Track, among others. Ziff-Davis owns Backpacker,
Yachting, and Stereo Review; Vogue House & Garden, Glamour, and Mademoiselle. While Triangle
Publications, publisher of TV Guide, is not identified as a group owner because Seventeen magazines
technically has a separate corporate publisher, for all practical purposes these two magazines are of the
same ownership.
Even with these multiple listings, the magazine industry as a whole is characterized by a less concentrated
ownership pattern than the broadcasting, newspaper, and film industries. In part, this may be due to the
fact that the magazine industry is considered to be an easy-access industry. Because a small-circulation
magazine can be operated out of a home by a very small staff, a wide variety of people are encouraged to
publish magazines; unfortunately, however, hundreds fail every year.
Magazine Organizations: Who Does What?
Magazines, like other industries, have developed corporate structures to facilitate theiroperation.
Though magazine publishers have formal responsibility for the editorial aspects of themagazine, most
publishers are business people and tend to leave editorial decisions tothe editor-in-chief. They do,
however, oversee the budgeting and advertising functions of the magazine.The editor-in-chief is the individual responsible for the non advertising content of the magazine. The
managing editor is usually in charge of the day-to-day business of getting a magazine completed and to
the printer. Assisting the managing editor are other editors whose task is to oversee particular departments
within the magazine. All editors work jointly with art directors to design not only the articles appearing in
the magazine but the magazine's cover and logo as well.
The advertising department is responsible for selling space in the magazine. Research staffs facilitate this
effort by compiling information about the magazine's audience, which is then shared with advertisers and
editors alike. In 1980, Folio magazine reported that approximately 54 percent of the average consumer
magazine's revenues are derived from advertising. Today magazines are less advertisement-dependent
than they were in earlier days, when the reader who purchased a copy paid for only a small fraction of the
magazine's production costs.
Subscriber and newsstand sales are the responsibilities of the circulation director. If leadership is down,
the circulation director is theperson who must take steps to discover why.The circulation department is
divided into three sections: (1) subscription sales, containing the people charged with the job of obtaining
and renewing subscribers; (2) single-copy sales, containing the people whose task is to deal with retailers;
and (3) fulfillment, containing the people who are responsible for ensuring that subscribers do indeed
receive their copies. Fulfillment personnel update subscriber changes of address, renewals, etc. Owing to
the complexity of the task, the fulfillment function is sometimes handled by an external service agency.
Since seeking new subscribers is a prime function of the circulation department, let us briefly explore a
number of the techniques circulation people use to encourage people to subscribe to a magazine. One
common technique is to employ 3x5 blow-in cards, which are traditionally found in all magazines. A
second strategy is to use sweepstakes sponsored by such organizations as Publisher's Clearing House and
Reader's Digest. Heavy television promotion and recognized stars like Ed McMahon help promote the
success of these endeavors. Jim Phelps, circulation director of Reader's Digest, when discussing his
responsibility to "get the subs," noted that the Reader's Digest Sweepstakes gives readers a reduced rate
on subscriptions, and then four to six months before the expiration of that subscription the magazine
sends out renewal cards. It is interesting to note that it usually takes four to five years of renewals before docsity.com

the sweepstakes-solicited customers are paying full subscription price for the magazine. Phelps employs a
third technique, the newsstand, as a means of attracting subscribers to Reader's Digest. One lucrative
location for newsstands is the checkout counter. In fact, Phelps reports that in 1983, 85 percent of
Reader's Digest newsstand sales were made at checkout counters. Examine the checkout counter display
in a store that you frequent. How many different publications are available there?
Circulation is also solicited through direct-mail lists, franchising programs of nonprofit organizations, and
catalog agents. Magazines also attempt to market themselves as Christmas gifts.
It should be noted that prevailing postal rates do affect magazine circulation. In 1974 postal rates were
amended in order to make them more favorable to magazines. Of late, however, magazine postal rates
have skyrocketed. Reader's Digest nowadvertises a basic subscription price notingthat postage is
additional. To be sure,postage increases will continue to pose problems for the industry in the years to
come.
Finally, the production department is responsible for facilitating the printing andbinding of the magazine.
Since the quality ofthe printing, paper, and binding can influence a magazine's success in the mar-
ketplace, the decisions made by the production staff are critical.

Contemporary Magazine Editing:
In his book Magazine Editing in the ‘80s. William Rivers tells the following story."Pasted on the wall at
eye level above a typewriter in the office of a movie-fan magazine editor is a picture of a young girl, a
sales-clerk in a Woolworth’s store. The editor has never met her; he keeps the picture in view to remind
him of his primary readership. When he is choosing and editing articles and photographs, he thinks of this
young girl's tastes.The editor described in the preceding passage, like most editors today, is responsible for ensuring that his
or her magazine is addressed to a particular audience. Tom Lashnits, associate editor for Reader's Digest,
speaking before a Center for Communication Seminar held in New York City, reflected this practice
when he noted, "The key is to keep people buying the magazine.
The Editorial Concept: Creating the Formula

A magazine must have a concept or formula that guides it through the editorial process. In effect, the
guiding concept or formula represents the magazine's personality, its unique mixture of editorial material
and content. Do you think Time has such a personality? Can you compare Time's personality with that of
Newsweek? To be sure, each of these magazines has a distinct editorial focus, one that differentiates it
from other magazines on the market.
J. W. Click and Russel N. Baird in Magazine Editing and Production note that magazine formulas can be
divided into three key categories: (1) departments (containing sections like "Food," "Traveling," "Manag-
ing Your Money"); (2) articles within departments (containing articles like "Home Decorating," "This
Month," "Win Money for Your Recipes"); and (3) general types of contents (for example, Fiction,
Editorials, Cartoons).
Magazine formulas or publication policies are summarized in the Consumer Magazine Farm Publication
Rates & Data.
The Redbook entry goes on to discuss topics such as politics, medicine, and education, as well as the fact
that one-third of the magazine's space is devoted to services like food, nutrition, fashion, needlecrafts, and
the like. In addition, it is noted that a complete novel and short stories are projected for each issue. A
magazine formula statement should identify the purpose of the magazine, its market, the standard of
living and education of its readership, and the publication's competition.
Covers also sell. According to Fred Bernstein, a free-lance writer for People magazine, a picture of a
movie star on the cover sells the most magazines; next in spurring sales are pictures of TV stars, followed
by pictures of sports figures and politicians.
Editors Work with Design and Production
An editor's job entails much more than selecting and copyediting stories. To be sure, editors make many
decisions which affect the nature of the completed product. For example, it is up to editors to determine
which articles warrant several pages, which are worthy of only a single page, and what the cover story or
cover article will be. In addition, editors need to work cooperatively with the magazine's art department to
set the layout and design of an issue. They must also be knowledgeable about typography because it is the
editor's job to provide the printer with marginal notes which describe the various size types to be used for
body text, headlines, and titles.
Examine recent or current issues of several magazines. Note five covers which seem particularly effective
or provocative to you. Explain why you like them parcel of the editorial process; these tasks may be
assigned to one or two people if a publication is small or to hundreds of people if we are dealing with a
major news weekly.